Nap Buddies
by PerditaAlottachocolate
Summary: Marinette was sinking into the alluring claws of addiction, and sinking fast. But can you really blame her? Who would have resisted an opportunity like that or refused a sweet kitty his cuddles? No one in their right mind and with their heart in the right place. And that would be her last line of defense. A Kitty Love Zine story.


**Nap Buddies**

There is probably no better thing in this world than napping with your cat cuddled into you. Any proud cat owner will tell you that. The softness of cat's hair. The kneading of the paws. The gentle nuzzles. The warmth spreading through you. And of course the purring. Ah, the purring! It's as if the time has stopped and enclosed you in a personal bubble of happiness and comfort.

So can you really blame Marinette? Who would have resisted an opportunity like that or refused a sweet kitty his cuddles? No one in their right mind and with their heart in the right place. And that would be her last line of defense.

Because Marinette was sinking into the alluring claws of addiction, and sinking fast.

How did it come to this? She honestly had no idea. All she remembered was being carried by Chat Noir after he found Marinette near the battle scene, tired to the point of almost falling asleep on her feet. That last akuma on top of a very busy day, on top of an even busier week took its toll.

The musky scent of Chat's cologne blended with light cheese overtones filled her nostrils and his heartbeat so close to her ear drowned out other noises. She didn't notice when she fell. _Asleep_, of course.

She woke up to the delightful purring of her cat pillow. Only her pillow had never purred up until that very moment. Intrigued, Marinette opened her eyes and stared at a very black, very toned, and very not pillowy chest of Chat Noir.

She blinked, hoping to chase away the remnants of a dream. It wouldn't be the first time she dreamed about Chat, not that anyone knew. But blinking didn't help. The leather clad chest rose and fell to the soft vibrations only a cat could provide.

Slowly, carefully Marinette raised her head but the movement was enough to rouse her pillow substitute. Similarly to her Chat blinked in daze, then blinked again as all the important bits of reality registered. And then he jostled away, only the chaise they were cuddled on was not so wide, so with a thud, he landed on his butt. His legs stuck straight up, bending at the knees so his boots dangled miserably in the air at her eye-level.

'What happened?' Marinette pushed his feet aside and looked down at the feline hero sprawled on the floor.

'I don't know,' he whispered in horror. Ever the gentleman he stared at his claws, unwilling to meet her gaze. 'I… I'd better go,' he muttered, scrambling to his feet.

Marinette couldn't decide if it really would be better, but before she could even think of something to say Chat climbed to the skylight and left into the night with one short nod of goodbye. She hoped he hadn't noticed the treacherous blush that warmed her cheeks.

Fighting with some very peculiar thoughts on the matter (ones she would never ever say out loud), Marinette did a great job of ignoring Tikki's pointed looks and not talking about the nap for a whole day. And then the mangy cat came back and ruined everything.

'That was the best nap I ever had,' he mumbled after a long moment of awkward silence, totally oblivious to the fact that he just voiced her own assessment of the whole ordeal.

Marinette's disobedient heart did a little whoop. She scrunched her nose, letting her logical side lead the way. Nothing good would come out of this "following one's heart" nonsense.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' she said, taking a huge step away from him, albeit a little too late. Her lungs were now full of his scent. It reminded her of warmth, comfort and safety. He smelled like the only pillow she ever wanted.

Chat started picking on the end of his tail. 'I want to do it again,' he whispered.

'_Yes, please_' was what Marinette almost blurted out in an instant. Her heart was now beating wildly, let loose in her chest. _'Yes, yes, yes,' _it begged. She winced, as the little voice of reason, which sounded suspiciously close to what Tikki would say, kindly pointed out that napping with the cat hero (or any hero for that matter) was by and large _the_ most ridiculous idea she could ever come up with, "Operation Secret Garden" included.

Marinette sighed inwardly. The voice of Tikki was right of course, despite the frantic mantra of her heart. She crossed her arms in front of her chest in vain attempt to get her emotions under control. She needed space. She needed to be away from that boy before her resolve crumbled to dust.

'We can't do it again,' she stated with much more determination than she felt.

Chat shrunk and looked at her with those damn kitten eyes. Even his voice oozed misery when he asked, 'Why not?'

She just raised her brow, afraid to do anything else that would probably end in them reaching a nap arrangement. For the sake of them both she had to be the reasonable one in this if he couldn't.

'Fine,' Chat huffed, turning away. 'We never had this conversation.'

'Fine,' Marinette echoed pursing her lips.

It wasn't fine. The stupid cat ruined naps for her and seriously messed up her sleep schedule, because she couldn't stop thinking about _it_. Not that she couldn't sleep. She _always_ could. With school, bakery, friends, designing and her superhero extracurriculars it was a miracle she hadn't keeled over in the middle of the street yet.

But no snooze, nor a full night's sleep could rival that catnap. So was it really such a surprise that, when after a week of this torture Chat appeared on her balcony, looking every bit as doleful as she felt, Marinette wordlessly opened her arms and let him sink into her embrace and subsequently to the deck chair where the two of them happily conked out?

It all went downhill from there, with a silent agreement between the two newly established nap buddies. Chat's visits became a regular if a bit random occurrence. There were short naps. There were long naps. There were on-the-chaise naps, on-the-chair-naps and on-the-carpet naps and even blanket fort naps.

And once they crossed the physical boundaries of their personal spaces, there was no telling in what position they'd end. Sometimes Marinette woke up sprawled on top of Chat. Sometimes Chat leaned into her, burying his nose in her hair or snuggling against her side. He also loved to nap with his head in her lap, when she didn't feel like sleeping. She usually slipped her fingers into his hair and deployed the purr factory.

The pattern of his visits evolved with time. Marinette made sure to keep her room clean and always provide a plate of snacks and a glass of fresh milk for her kitty. Adrien's pictures disappeared from her walls after a while. But that, as Marinette claimed stubbornly despite Tikki's comments, had nothing to do with Chat, but everything to do with Adrien. She felt plain weird cuddling up to her nap buddy while the model stared at them from the walls. Especially since she caught her classmate glancing at her a few times in school with a very disturbing expression. It all seemed a bit too creepy for her taste, so she bid the pictures goodbye.

The longer it continued the happier Marinette felt. Of course she'd heard about the beneficial influence of cats on the health of their owners, but Chat wasn't a cat after all nor was he _hers_. Even if the thought made her blush.

That evening Marinette woke up enveloped in Chat's tight embrace. Their legs were tangled and if it wasn't for Chat's suit it would be difficult to tell where one of them ended and the other one began. She breathed in the familiar warm scent of leather, musk and cheese. She ran her hand through his soft hair. She rubbed the skin behind his false ear.

He watched her through his half-lidded eyes, tracing lazy patterns on her back with his claws. His gaze explored her face, like dozens of times before, but there was a new fire burning behind the green irises, something she noticed recently though it looked strangely familiar. His eyes seemed to be drawn to her lips and he licked his own, as if considering the taste of a delicacy he was about to devour. And maybe he was.

Marinette's treacherous heart launched into an excited staccato and a churning heat stirred deep in her belly.

'So are you going to kiss me or what?' she murmured, ready to laugh it off should things go sour.

His lips crashed into hers in a blink. It was desperate, hungry, insatiable. She briefly wondered how long had he been wanting to do that. But soon all reasonable thought evaporated under the onslaught of Chat's kisses. He kissed her like there was not only no tomorrow, but today was also questionable. He kissed her the way he fought his battles, recklessly and with everything he had. She doubted she could ever have enough.

When they finally broke apart, their lips swollen, their hair in disarray, Marinette gestured between them. 'Does that make us "kiss buddies" now?' she jested, trying to hide her giddiness.

Chat sent her a long, searching look. 'How about girlfriend and boyfriend?' he finally suggested.

She couldn't help but smile as she nestled closer to him. 'As long as there's more kisses,' she bopped him on the nose, 'I am totally okay with that.'

And then there were more kisses. Many, many more.

* * *

_Author's Note: This is my story for Marichat fanzine – "Kitty Love Zine" and I can finally share it. You can check the zine's tumblr profile (kittylovezine . tumblr . com) for wonderful stories and amazing art, especially if you're Marichat fans._

_A huge thank you to da-tasuky for creating the incredible art for this fic that you can see on the cover picture (for bigger pic visit her profile da-tasuky . tumblr . com), for Remasa and Clueless Lost Daydreamer for betareading and their valuable advice._

_Please a review or a fav if you liked this story. I greatly appreciate it._


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